onversion necessary, whether it is
handwritten text, calligraphy, free hand drawing or non-alphabetical
writing. An international patent was filed in April 2001. The French
start-up iCodex was created in July 2002 to promote, develop and market
@folio.

1996 > Merriam-Webster Online

Merriam-Webster, a main publisher of English-language dictionaries,
launched the website Merriam-Webster Online: The Language Center in
1996 to give free access to online resources stemming from its print
publications. Among the online resources: Webster Dictionary, Webster
Thesaurus, Webster's Third (a lexical landmark), Guide to International
Business Communications, Vocabulary Builder (with interactive
vocabulary quizzes), and the Barnhart Dictionary Companion (hot new
words). The goal has also been to help track down definitions,
spellings, pronunciations, synonyms, vocabulary exercises, and other
key facts about words and language.

1996 > A main French-language dictionary online

The Dictionnaire Universel Francophone en Ligne (Universal
French-Language Online Dictionary) was the web version of the
Dictionnaire Universel Francophone, published by Hachette, a major
French publisher, and the AUPELF-UREF (that became the AUF: Agence
Universitaire de la Francophonie - University Agency of Francophony).
The dictionary included not only standard French but also the
French-language words and expressions used worldwide. French is the
official language of 49 states, with a number of them in Africa, and is
spoken by 500 million people worldwide. The AUF is a branch of the
Agence de la Francophonie (Agency of French-speaking Countries),
founded in 1970 as an instrument of multilateral cooperation at the
international level. As a side remark, English and French are the only
official and/or cultural languages that are widely spread on five
continents.

1996 > Digitalization

"Digitalization has made it possible to create, record, manipulate,
combine, store, retrieve and transmit information and information-based
products in ways which magnetic tape, celluloid and paper did not
permit. Digitalization thus allows music, cinema and the written word
to be recorded and transformed through similar processes and without
distinct material supports. Previously dissimilar industries, such as
publishing and sound recording, now both produce CD-ROM rather than
simply books and records." (Proceedings of the ILO Symposium on
Multimedia Convergence, Int